Crisp and Green — Restaurant in Saint Paul

I’m never one to leave a bad review for anything — I’ve worked in enough customer service-type settings to know that things happen and it’s hardly ever on the actual employee helping you. But after a handful of negative experiences here, I thought it important to reflect that here.

First off, I typically LOVE the food at C&G. Such great options for fresh, good-feeling and filling meals. It’s one of the only places locally that has this level of variety when it comes to salads and smoothies, and I’ve loved what they’ve added for grain bowls and wraps lately, too!

This particular location seems to STRUGGLE having enough staff. And I’m empathetic to that. But it’s consistently made wait times super long (like 15-25 min when there’s only 4-6 people in front of me) and seems obviously stressful to the few staff members who are on shift. I get that it happens here and there, but I’ve now been in here several times where there’s only one person in front and one in the back and it takes sooooo long.

The most difficulty I had was a time last summer when I ordered a salad and saw that the chicken was noticeably pink. The person on staff must not have noticed, so I very neutrally just let them know. I was also pregnant at the time, so I chalked it up to “just feeling extra ick about things and notice that the chicken is pink,” obviously concerned. The staff person responded, “Sorry, I don’t cook the chicken.” Which felt really weird to me because I didn’t care who did it, I just didn’t want to get food poisoning. 😅 she just looked at me waiting for ME to decide what to do, and I felt so weird about it that I just pivoted to getting a smoothie. When at the checkout, I let another employee know about the chicken as an FYI, like they might want to do something about it, and he seemed uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do with that information, then told me my total. I was pretty caught off-guard that I’d still have to pay for my smoothie because common courtesy would probably be to comp it since I couldn’t get what I originally wanted. I didn’t fault the employees in the moment but walked away thinking how ick it all made me feel and that it should be run a lot better than that.

Other times I experienced super long wait times, key ingredients being out, telling me smoothies would take a lot longer, staff not knowing what was in the menu item I ordered and almost needing to coach them through the steps, etc. Pretty weird and could use a lot of help improving...

Since this restaurant opened on Grand Avenue, I have visited several times. I want to like this place but I am not planning to return. The food is prepared in an inconsistent manner so every time the same dish is a little different. The atmosphere is of a fast food restaurant but the prices are regular restaurant prices. If these were the only issues, I would probably still return. However, the restaurant seriously lacks on cleanliness. The last time I went, four weeks ago, I had to use the restroom. It was filthy. There was dried feces and urine on the toilet. The floor was covered in a sticky substance that made my shoes squeak as I walked back to my table. When I complained to the friend I was with, he mentioned that the last time he had come there he was thinking about not returning because the person who prepared his meal was mopping the floor with gloves and did not change them before preparing his meal. He mentioned that there would be a lot of germs on a mop handle, and now those germs were likely in his salad. He said he threw the salad away and didn't eat it. After this last visit, I went online and found a form to submit my concerns about this location to Crisp and Green. I gave them a month to respond to me but I have not heard back, hence I am writing this review because it seems that nothing is being done to address cleanliness issues at the Grand Avenue location. Update: After writing this review, Crisp & Green contacted me offering me a $50 gift certificate. I declined the certificate and requested that they address the cleanliness issue. I stated that I don't want to eat there if it's unclean even if I don't have to pay...

My 65-year-old mother is allergic to basil, an allergy she developed after receiving treatment for lymphatic cancer. When ordering a salad in this store, my mother alerted the C&G staff person to her allergy. She was assured that the salad she had selected contained no basil.

By her second bite, it was clear that the salad did in fact contain basil — her mouth and throat become sore and swollen. Of course she could not continue eating the salad. Subsequently, she learned that the “proprietary” spice mix used on the chicken in the salad did in fact contain basil, despite what she was told in the store.

When she related this story to the store manager, by phone, she was not even offered a refund for the salad she was unable to eat; she was told that she could receive a $15 gift certificate if and only if she revisited the store, in person, though she lives nowhere near the store.

C&G must take their customers allergies more seriously, to avoid doing serious harm to them. Furthermore, they must respond with greater solicitude when they make mistakes. I’m glad my mother didn’t wind up in the hospital. She won’t be back to this or any other branch of Crisp & Green and...